Comfortable, Energy-Efficient Buildings

The buildings in which we live and work should be safe, comfortable, make minimum use of carbon-intensive materials, and be efficient to run. They will have to remain habitable in the face of increasingly extreme weather events. Wherever possible, existing buildings should be renovated rather than demolished and rebuilt, with appropriate retro-fitting which will not only reduce carbon emissions but also help to lift people out of fuel poverty. Measures are needed to mitigate the overheating of both old and new homes, and the public needs to understand the risks to health incurred at very high temperatures.

New developments must be linked to local services and low-carbon transport options to promote emission reductions across the region. “Net-zero building” must take into account the carbon costs of construction, the embodied carbon in building materials, and the loss of carbon stocks caused by the destruction of soils, vegetation or existing structures.

Green-led Councils would:

  • fund accessible, lower cost retro-fitting;
  • apply the relevant retro-fitting measures (such as insulation) to as many council homes as possible, rather than providing full refits for fewer homes;
  • provide information on how to access retro-fitting (e.g. funding sources, advice on improved insulation, solar panels and heat pumps etc.);
  • consider introducing, as in certain other councils, a council “kitemark” to be awarded to developments that comply with the council’s highest standards to encourage voluntary compliance with higher standards than those imposed by law, including but not limited to Passivhaus13;
  • recruit additional building controls inspectors as necessary to ensure required standards are met;
  • continue to work with and on behalf of social housing residents to get hazards such as mould and condensation rapidly resolved.
13 https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/passivhaus-what-you-need-know/#:~:text=Passivhaus%2520buildings%2520are%2520so%2520well,little%2520additional%2520heating%2520or%2520cooling